Thursday, December 13, 2012

Lists of Approved Meters

I just noticed that the New Jersey Clean Energy website has a page which includes a link to two lists of electric meters, along with an indication as to whether the meter has been approved for meeting ANSI CR.1-2008 standard of +/- 2% accuracy (as of December 1, only meters which meet this standard can be used to report readings for generation of SRECs).

Here are the two lists on that page. I'm inferring that the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (NJ BPU) is saying that if it's approved on one of these lists, it's good enough for them. It might be worth a few minutes to look. Maybe your meter is good enough:

My meter (General Electric I-210+C, installed by PSE&G on July 25, 2012) is marked as "approved" on the New York list but as "not approved" on the California list. I just e-mailed my broker about it, because they seem to be the gatekeeper here, but I don't have much hope. I already annoyed the hell out of them a couple of weeks ago and was finally told that my meter doesn't meet the standard. I just figured that now that I'd seen a list, I'd ask again and point the list out.

7 comments:

My understanding is that in your case it is the placement of the meter that makes it unsuitable for reporting generation. Your meter is recording net energy used...it does not give a reading of how much energy is generated.

I have a separate meter that my installer put inbetween the inverters and my electrical panel. This gives a readout of how much the panels have generated, regardless of what amount of it is used. This is the number that has to be reported for SREC generation.

Now I also have a monitoring system that spits out all of the information to a website (http://tinyurl.com/summersolarpanels). For some reason the readings off of this are not acceptable...not too sure why, but I'm sure they have their reasons

You and others have been trying to get that through my thick skull. Maybe this time I'll finally accept it. I wish it was presented in a clearer way, but I'm starting to wonder if there's anybody out there who has a clear, vested interest in making this work. I'm starting to feel like we're just a nuisance.

My meter gives two readings, actually. One is the amount imported. I had thought that the other was the amount generated, but maybe, maybe, the second number is the amount exported (which isn't the number needed for SRECs).

Doesn't look like you have to do much inferring. They specifically say that if your meter appears on "either" list it's OK for them. Your's appears on 1 list as approved. Seems like that's it. Tell your broker your meter is approved... and tell him you're switching to SRECTrade if there's any further issue with it. You gotta take charge of the situation.

Interesting...my meter just provides the net energy used from the grid...if yours is providing you full enough information to determine the amount generated, I don't see why you wouldn't be able to use it. Have you tries calling the people at the office of clean energy, or at PJM-GATS?

Steve and Anonymous, that's exactly how I feel, and that's why I asked again. It's on the list and it does provide a reading that appears to be the amount of power generated by my panels. Not enough?

Somewhere in a comment thread there's a mention by somebody that they have the same meter I do, and they are signed, sealed and delivered for SREC generation under the new system. I think it was an anonymous poster. I might have to make a new post asking for more information on how and where to make that happen.

Like you, I have an outside PSE&G meter that has two readings. The first one ("100" on my meter) records the net amount imported from the grid while I am generating less than I am using. The second ("101") records the net amount exported to the grid while I am generating more than I use. Because there is no separate measure of my usage, there appears to be no way to use the two readings to arrive at the amount generated. My installer put in a separate meter that records the cumulative generation by the panels (as Steve S's installer did).

Laying out the money for a meter now would be a pain in the neck. Even at today's depressed SREC prices, however, it's a worthwhile investment compared to getting no SREC income.

I'd like to ask if anyone knows of an installer who would be interested in adding two panels to my existing array. I had arranged with someone to purchase the panels, but he got sick after the purchase and could not do the installation. I managed to get one quote, but it was so high that it was unattractive financially.

Because of the restrictions that were part of the NJ rebate program when we put in our system in 2009, we have 22 panels but room for 24.